On October 3rd, 1998, Centennial Auditorium opened its doors to the public. This year on October 14, it celebrated its 25th anniversary. The celebration had current S.H.S. band and choir members playing alongside music alumni as well as four nominated choir members competing for a $500 scholarship in the “Star of the Stage” singing competition. Four nominated alumni also got the chance to compete for $2,500.
The concert opened with a nostalgic video of all the great moments that took place on the auditorium stage. The band performed first, opening the concert with Randall Stanridge’s “Angelic Celebrations.” They closed with S.H.S.’s “Loyalty,” conducted by this year’s drum majors Rileigh Wren, Diego Zaragoza, and Chavela Quintana. Encouraging the audience to sing along, lyrics to the song were projected on the two big screens in the auditorium.
Shortly after, choir took the stage singing “Bonse Aba,” “Fix You,” and “The Pasture.” Then came time for the singing contest. The audience, through an online voting system, got to decide who the winners should be.
The student contestants included freshman Trinity Pankey, juniors Brinley Francis and Cole Stumpenhorst, and senior Henry Oberg.
Pankey states “Afterwards, I was so proud of myself and all of my opponents. I could not be happier for all of us and how far we’ve come.”
Oberg won the $500 scholarship with his performance of “Friends on the Other Side” from Disney’s “Princess and the Frog.”
“I was pretty nervous before the performance. However, the moment the song began, the nervousness faded away and was replaced by a buzz of adrenaline and enjoyment.” Oberg says.
Alumni contestants included Emma Stroup ‘23, Danae Palmer ‘21, Evan Lobdell ‘16, Annabelle Chattic ‘13, and Marisa Hollenback ‘99. Hollenback won the $2,500 by singing “Hallelujah.”
All ticket revenue from the performances and any additional donations received from that night was put into the auditorium’s second generation fundraising campaign for many more auditorium memories.
